The Tacoma Art Museum is growing, but don't be scared away by the construction. The museum is open while crews work on a major expansion, which is targeted for a late fall opening.

The museum's new wing will be dedicated to Western art, the frontier and pioneer themes from the 1800s that Northwest residents need to travel to Great Falls, Mont., or Cody, Wyo., now to see in large quantities.

The museum received a donation of approximately 280 works of Western American art from philanthropists Erivan and Helga Haub and their family. TAM is in the process of constructing a new wing and expanded lobby to showcase the remarkable collection.

In the meantime, the museum will feature Northwest art, contemporary and classic, as has long been its primary mission.

I've always enjoyed Tacoma Art Museum because it has interesting exhibits in a compact space of five main galleries. You don't need to spend the entire day, then leave wishing you had more time, like some of the larger art museums (thinking here of Portland and Seattle). Whether the new wing changes that feel is still to be determined.

Tacoma Art Museum is at 1701 Pacific Ave., in downtown Tacoma; 253-272-4258; tacomaartmuseum.org. The museum has been in existence since 1935 and has compiled a collection of 3,200 objects, so only a small part of it can be shown (it's typical that a museum displays less than 10 percent of its collection). Go back in a few months and you will see something different.

When I last visited about a year ago (see photos), the museum featured the work of glass maestro Dale Chihuly (his gifts to the museum), the Best of the Northwest, Michael Kenna's Photography and Andy Warhol's "Flowers for Tacoma." A new handbook is available on the best of the museum's Northwest collection.